Allardyce Admits Need for New Striker Following 0-2 Loss to Manchester United

Everton boss Sam Allardyce expressed his frustration with poor defensive errors from his side following the Toffees' 2-0 loss vs Manchester United - and also acknowledged the need for the club to sign a new centre forward in the January transfer window.

Speaking at his post match press conference, Allardyce said it was self-inflicted errors that led to United's two goals rather than Red Devils genius.

"I was very disappointed how we conceded the two goals by really giving them the opportunity to score when we didn’t need to," he said.

"Both goals were down to our errors, really, rather than Manchester United’s great play."

PAUL ELLIS/GettyImages

Allardyce did praise the performance of midfielder James McCarthy, who came on as a second half substitute to replace Wayne Rooney, a decision which didn't appear too popular with the Everton faithful at the time.

“We recovered from going a goal down,” said Allardyce. “James McCarthy, for me, was the shining light of the recovery, because he actually went and tackled somebody and showed the rest of our team how we had to go about our job."

Everton have been linked with strikers such as Turkish international Cenk Tosun in recent weeks, and Allardyce says he is well aware that it is a position they need to strengthen.

“We need to strengthen our frontline - I think we all know that," he said.

"We’re trying to do the hardest job of all by securing a player in that position. It wasn’t achieved before the season and it may not be achieved this January, but we’re trying."

“Obviously, we need a bigger goalscoring threat than we’ve got at the moment and that may help us in many ways to achieve more results and certainly will if whoever we get scores goals.”